Early one summer day, a Town Mouse decided to embark on a journey to the country where a relative of the mouse was known to live. After arriving, the Country Mouse greeted its' relative with great delight. The two sat and enjoyed a lunch of acorns, ice chilled water, roots, grass, and wheat. The Town Mouse was not used to plain food like this and ate only a little of everything as not seem snobby to the Country Mouse.
After the meal was finished the two relatives caught up on each other's lives. The conversation was very one sided though as the Town Mouse talked for hours about life in the city while the simple Country Mouse intensely listened. After hours of conversation, the two found a comfortable place to rest for the night and went to sleep. While asleep, the Country Mouse dreamed about the stories the Town Mouse had told. The Country Mouse couldn't imagine a place more grand than what the Town Mouse had described. In the morning, when the Country Mouse awoke, it was clear that the Country Mouse must make visiting the town a reality. The Town Mouse recognized the Country Mouse's want to visit the town and graciously agreed to take the Country Mouse there for a visit.
When they reached the town, the Country Mouse went into a bit of a shock. The Country Mouse had never seen such pomp and circumstance, mansions, or large people. It was quite overwhelming as you can imagine. When they arrived at the Town Mouse's residence, they took a small tour before heading to the great dining hall. When they arrived in the dining hall they found to their surprise, mounds of mouthwatering food. There were donuts, five different types of cheese, honey, and more. But just as the two started feasting, they heard a noise come from behind the door. Without warning, the door flew open and a Cat started to enter the room, purring loudly. The two mice stood in shock for a minute before scurrying out as fast as possible. They sought shelter behind one of the baseboards for over an hour. When they heard the commotion of the cat die down, they peeked behind the baseboard to assess the situation. They saw servants taking the feast away, they were clearing the table of all of the delicious food.
Photo retrieved from American Literature on 8/20/14
Upset and disappointed, the two Mice left the house to go outside. The Country Mouse decided to get her belongings so she could head out and get home before dark. As the Country Mouse left, she made a point to tell the Town Mouse what she thought of the town.
The Country Mouse's parting words were, "You sure have all sorts of beautiful things here that I lack in the country, but I would prefer eating my simple food and sleeping in the grass to constantly being in fear of my life like you are here. Good luck with that."
Author's Note
The two Mice are juxtaposed by their place of origin. One is from the city, and the other the country. Both realize they can't live any other way then how they are used to. The Town Mouse likes the rich food and grandness of the town, and the Country Mouse enjoys the simplistic food and security that comes with that. In the end, the Country Mouse leaves the town and discovers that, "Poverty with security is better than plenty in the midst of fear and uncertainty" (Winter 19).
Bibliography
"The Town Mouse and The Country Mouse," Aesop's Fables, trans. by Laura Gibbs (2002). Online at aesopica.net.
Great story! I had never actually read this fable before, so it was a very enjoyable read right off the bat. The fish-out-of-water stories are always rather intriguing. Honestly, I'm rather curious as to why this is the story you picked out of all the options. It also seemed to fit your desire to travel, which I noticed from the introduction. Again, way cool story.
ReplyDeleteThis is one of the fables I read! I almost picked it but I couldn't see a way to remake the story in a way I wanted. I have known this story since I was little and I had little cartoons I would watch. One of them was this fable and it was one of my favorites. I never really liked the town mouse, I felt she was a little snobby, but I was also young. I like your elaboration on the story and making it easier to read and understand!
ReplyDelete